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Helpful Hints: Creating Interest Areas
Setting up interest areas with in the classroom is important for
the making of a classroom that promotes the growth and development for a child.
Here are areas that are typically in an early childhood classroom:
• Blocks (unit blocks, people and transportation)
• Dramatic Play (kitchen set, dress-up clothes & dolls)
• Fine Motor or Manipulative (tables, puzzles, pegs & beads)
• Art (easels, paint, crayons & paper)
• Sand & Water (sand and water table, funnels, measuring cups & sponges)
• Library (book display, books & soft cushions)
• Music and Movement (dance/prop storage, musical instruments/players)
• Storage for Personal Belongings (lockers, storage bins, etc.)
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Helpful Hints: Unclutter the Clutter
Many teachers have the ability to (let's see, how do I put this nicely...)
hoard, stockpile, warehouse and accumulate materials that will never see the light of day.
Are you that person who is keeping all of those records (remember the vinyl ones?)
because you know that vinyl is destined to make a comeback? Or are you the person who's keeping the broken table,
but you can not bring yourself throw it away, because one day you will fix it?
Yeah, right, and I'm going to fit into those pair of jeans that I've had in my closet since my freshmen year of college.
Now don't feel bad if you are one of these people. You are not alone.
The first step is admitting that you have a "clutter problem". Besides it is a learned behavior.
You have seen the lean times, you may be going through it right now, when the funding wasn't available to purchase
new materials and you were forced to use toys that you find in those children's meals at the local fast food restaurant.
It is okay; the best of have done it. The positive thing is that help is here.
I have been on the dark side and now I see the light, or at least the uncluttered floor.
The following are some things that you do to minimize the clutter in your life, or at least, in your classroom:
• Say it with me now, It is okay to throw away.
(you are going to have to say this to yourself throughout the entire process).
• Seek outside help.
Find someone that does not have an emotional attachment to the materials and maybe a stronger will than your own.
This will help you realize that some of the attachments that you have to the materials are not truly realistic.
• Throw away materials that are damaged, cracked, broken or splintered.
This is non-negotiable!
Children can get injured and it will be the school's responsibility if this happens.
Believe me, it will cost you less to replace the damaged materials than it would to keep them.
• Where are the safety hazards?
Are there boxes of supplies stacked to the ceiling or at least at the child's height in your classroom?
These are potential safety problems that could result in children getting hurt.
First of all purge the contents of the boxes and remove anything that that you
have not used in 6 months to a year (if you have not used in that long, you will never use it again).
After going though the boxes, go through them again.
Once you have finished and have, at the most, half of the boxes that you started out with,
move them out of the children's play space and into a proper storage area away from the children,
but yet you still have access to them.
• Take a picture of the space.
Sometimes truth hurts. This gives you the prospective that you have not seen in a while.
If possible, take a picture of the classroom with and without children in the room.
Sometimes the room does not look very cluttered when is without 20 little bodies?
• Observe the classroom in use.
Watch how the children move within the room.
Are they hindered by the amount of materials within the classroom?
Are there certain places that the children do not go?
Are there certain materials that the children do not play with?
If so, rearrange the space so that the children can maneuver around or make areas more inviting.
• Missing pieces or torn out page.
If you are missing pieces to a puzzle, it is no longer a puzzle.
If your books are missing pages, you no longer have a book.
Many evaluation tools and regulatory agencies will not count the puzzles
with missing pieces or books with torn pages in the allotted amount you need to have.
• Use containers!
For storage of the materials on the shelves, for supplies, or items that you rotate in the classroom.
Label the outside of the container so that you can easily identify what is inside.
Applying some of these ideas can help you begin the process of uncluttering your learning environment.
Remember if the space is not functioning for you, imagine what it's doing for the children.
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The aforementioned are professional opinions. All of these are the sole property of WDM, Inc.
Any use of the contents, above statements, or ideas requires the written permission of WDM, Inc. Violators will be prosecuted.
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Helpful Hint of the Month...
Big Book Holder
The Big Book Holder (WD34600)
gives both teachers and children easy access to
the big books needed to
encourage literacy within the classroom.
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Shown above:
WD34600 Big Book Holder
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Check us out in this article on the web...
The Ultimate Early Ed Blueprint
Creating an ideal early childhood education space in your school district is a no-brainer,
once you understand how to see and think like a tot.
By Julie Sturgeon, DistrictAdministration.com, May 2004
http://www.districtadministration.com/page.cfm?p=734
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Teacher Resources: Helpful Hints Archive
Our past Helpful Hints articles, organized & archived
for your convenience in setting-up your own classroom.
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Enhance interest areas by providing enough shelving & storage bins
for the amount of materials provided in the classroom.
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